VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI’s weeklong Lenten retreat this year will be led by Discalced Carmelite Father Francois-Marie Lethel, an author and expert on “the theology of the saints.”

The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, reported this evening that the pope and top Vatican officials will be on retreat March 13-19 and that Father Lethel, secretary of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, would offer the meditations.

With Pope Benedict watching from a small room at the left, Italian Cardinal Giacomo Biffi leads the 2007 retreat. (CNS/L'Osservatore Romano)

L’Osservatore said the Carmelite’s topic would be: “The light of Christ in the heart of the church: John Paul II and the theology of saints.”

The topic is Father Lethel’s specialty; he has written a book in French on the theology of saints and another on the Christology of St. Therese of Lisieux.

One Response to Pope’s Lenten retreat to focus on Pope John Paul and saints

I keep praying that Blessed Luigi Guanella, my fifth cousin will be named a saint by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011. Blessed Luigi Guanella was born in Fraciscio di Campodolcino, Italy on December 19, 1842 and died in Como, Italy on October 24, 1915. Blessed Luigi Guanella was beatified by Pope Paul VI on October 25, 1964. I pray he will be canonized by Pope Benedict XVI as a saint in October 2011 in honor of his devoted service to those in need.